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When Linsey, Katie, and I met up to complete the tour of our campus, we complained about the weather and how tedious it would be to stroll our big, wide campus in the cold. What we found, after completing the tour, is that Temple, on the weekends, seems much more condensed. It especially felt smaller as we traveled from building to building, stopping at each to snap a photograph. We also learned that we still had to ask for help while locating the buildings as we didn’t know exactly which ones were which. The tour of our campus helped us become a little more knowledgeable – and to make the fact that we are freshman on this historical campus a little less obvious.

The buildings we were assigned, like J&H and Annenberg were close to one another and easy to locate since I live in White Hall and they are near my dorm. Some weren’t as easy to find, as we had to take to the maps next to the engineering building to locate some of the others like Ritter Hall and Speakman. I realized that sometimes I’m unaware of my surroundings, as we only really knew the buildings which our classes are in or where the library is located.

I realized why it was so important that we took the Northwest Temple tour route. Urban renewal has impacted our city of Philadelphia and it has even more so greatly affected the community that I live in now: Temple University. The buildings on broad stand tall and made of concrete and have a much more historical look to them while buildings like Anneburg, with its flashing news updates on the front, are much more modern. Just walking around the campus and taking note of how the building’s presences become more updated gave me an understanding of how Temple itself grew in the same way.

Though we didn’t have to locate the constructions around Temple, I wanted to note that the demolitions of buildings such as Barton with the replacement of a new library show how the campus is in a constant state of renewal. As our university is rapidly growing in size of enrollement, I think this is appropriate. I’ve found that Temple has grown and will continue to grow; I also found that our campus is one of the most diverse campuses I have ever step foot on in terms of its student body and architecture alike.

While on our way to the dye works visit I looked around at the area which is considered to be one of the most dangerous cities in America. Obviously it has been run down by poverty and violence and I began to wonder how it had came to be that way. So while on our way to the trip, with my map in my hand that showed the city that once was full of factories and businesses, I googled how it became that way. I found that after the Great Depression, many of the factories closed, moving the money out of the city. Also as time progressed, factories were no longer needed and it lowered the cost of living in the area.

When I was told that the dye works house that we entered was only one of the twenty three that shut down, I understood that the factory shut-down was widespread and a long-ranging shift. For the dye house, with only eighteen employees, I was surprised to see how a big factory outlasted the disapperance of all the others and that it was able to function on that few of people. I was impressed by the machinery and the pride that the owners and workers had. For a job that is sometimes criticized to be easy, I realized how painstaking it must be. The one worker I talked to, while spinning the yarn, said he had worked there for ten years and that he usually works fourteen hours a day. I was surprised to see how dedicated the people were to this environment and I was pleasently surprised with my trip overall.

For my revolution, which is nursing, I chose to visit the Pennsylvania hospital located on 800 Spruce Street. As I entered the area I noticed how beautiful the area was and how clean the surrounding buildings and landscapes were. As for the building itself I took note on how the colonial architecture truly captured the era of when it was built.

The hospital was founded by Benjamin Franklin and Dr. Thomas Bond in 1751 and is now apart of the Penn Medicine system. It was interesting that, just a street over, is where the Penn hospital currently houses patients. The reason why it was so interesting is to see how the medical field has really developed since it was founded by Benjamin Franklin. The contrast between the hospital and Franklin’s hospital is endless and the most obvious being that the Pennsylvania hospital resembles a home while Penn resembles what would be the modern hospital of today.

The outside of the hospital is enough to be consumed by; I read that the tiles at the central entrance were 19th-century Portuguese tiles. The pilers at the entrance are immaculate as well. Its location is also in a prime spot being that it was about a ten minute ride by car from City Hall.

Though I did not go inside when I visited, I recalled when I last did with my mother and sister who are both RNs and gave me insight on how the first hospital in Philadelphia differs from a standard one today. Inside of the Pennsylvania hospital is a library, a surgical amphitheater, a garden and several pieces of artwork which are items that aren’t typically found inside a modern hospital.

Overall, I was pleasantly pleased with my trip. I got to take in the scenery of the surrounding areas of the hospital and strolled the beautiful cobblestone as well.

When I went to the American Philosophical Society Building (…after trying to locate it for about twenty minutes with Katie and Linsey) I was very underwhelmed by the exhibit. The exhibit only took about thirty minutes to walk through and I found paintings of distinguished figures of Peale’s time and other works such as the early American token. I noticed that Peale was an extremely artistic man as he had many sketchbooks and personal belongings that incorporated artistic talents that he had. The exhibit was fairly small and the enthusiasm about artifacts that I deem very interesting about our nation’s history was a bit lacking. There weren’t many people in the museum, but I found the content of it very intriguing.

For example, I was mostly excited in the taxidermy portion of the exhibit and while those items were not presented to me right away, I was then impressed by them when I finally came across them. I wish I could have seen more. There were birds, but sadly there was no Benjamin Franklin – as Peale had wished to stuff the body of this founding father but did not get the chance to.

The area surrounding the exhibit is beautiful. I absolutely love the historical parts of the city. Items such as the Liberty Bell are iconic portions of Philadelphia’s history, but this museum, small and what may seem underwhelming at first, is too. I kept this reminded in the back of my head and it made the experience more enjoyable. All of these small artifacts were apart of something much bigger: The first public museum and a very, very big revolution.

My name is Morgan Sullivan. I’m from Fairless Hills, PA. Not many people will know where this is because it’s a small town – and I put emphasis on a small town. I run into about half of my graduating high school class (which was 150, by the way) in the local WaWa. It’s about 40 minutes from Temple University and the biggest indicator on where this little town is nestled would be the Sesame Place theme park that is located just a city over. I attended Catholic school for six years so picking out an outfit that doesn’t include marble oxfords and a plaid skirt of some sort has been the most difficult issue I’ve had to solve at Temple thus far. I’m sure I’ll run into some more, considering I’m only a freshman here. Nonetheless, I’ve enjoyed my first week at Temple. I’ve enjoyed the coffee at Saxbys even more.

I’m the youngest of three siblings. My brother just graduated med-school and my sister has been a nurse for about five years now. I am the last to graduate from college, but I’m the first to major in something that doesn’t involve the sciences: I am a communications major. I love reading and writing in my free time. I’m not completely sure where I will go with my degree, but I hope that it involves these two pastimes. I also love meeting new people and doing new things so I guess it goes without saying that I look forward to my next four years here as well.